IAN BUSBY, QMI Agency

CALGARY - History says the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are in tough Friday night at McMahon Stadium.

The Calgary Stampeders are doing their best to ignore a few facts as they welcome the East Division basement-dwellers for Friday Night Football.

Here are some things that make you avoid picking the Bombers:

• Since 2002, the Bombers are winless when coming to Calgary, with a few of those not even being close.

• This season, the Bombers are a woeful 0-5 away from Canad Inns Stadium, with their last road outing a 52-0 thumping at the hands of the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Since 2008, their road record is 11-30, worst in the league.

• For the ninth straight meeting with Calgary, the Bombers have a new starting quarterback, and Joey Elliott has a 1-6 record at the helm of the Bombers.

• At 2-8, the Bombers are just holding on with their fingernails to remote playoff chances.

“When you are a player, what their record is, is less relevant,” Stamps running back Jon Cornish said. “We understand who they are.

“Their defence is pretty good. Their offence is pretty good. They just haven’t had success this year.

“If you go into a game playing against tough guys and underestimating them, that’s the wrong course to take. We, as a team, understand that.”

If there is one thing the Bombers have going for them, it’s that Stampeders quarterback Kevin Glenn has a four-game losing streak against his former team.

Of course, those were when he was with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and it includes last year’s East final in Winnipeg.

It also hurts the Stamps Friday that returner Larry Taylor is out with a knee injury. Taylor will have surgery Sept. 25, but hopes to return before the end of the season, although he was put on the nine-game injured list.

This meeting is the first time Elliott faces the Stamps since he suffered a season-ending knee injury thanks to defensive back Keon Raymond last July.

On a fumble return, Raymond stumbled while trying to run around Elliott and fell into the QB’s legs.

“I wish I would have scored and he wouldn’t have got hurt,” Raymond said. “He’s a bright young quarterback and he has a bright future. I hope things go well for him after the cards he’s been dealt.

“Hopefully, he throws me one or two (Friday). That would be exciting. Next time, he knows not to try to make the tackle.”

Both the Stamps and Bombers were in games last week decided on last-second field goals, but the endings were much different.

The Stamps escaped Edmonton with a win after Grant Shaw’s game-winning attempt rang off the upright.

The Bombers lost when former Stampeders kicker Sandro DeAngelis nailed a 40-yarder following a controversial decision by new head coach Tim Burke.

Instead of attempting a 42-yard field goal with 55 seconds left, Burke opted to punt, but the coffin-corner attempt went into the endzone and the Riders got the ball at the 35-yard line. They marched down for the winning points.

If not a play here or there, the Bombers could be coming into Calgary on a win streak instead a three-game losing run.

“They’ve had games decided late, just like us,” Stamps head coach John Hufnagel said. “They haven’t had as much good fortune as we’ve had.”

To avoid any late excitement, the Stamps would like to jump on the visitors early, smack them around and hope they crumble as they did on Labour Day weekend in Regina.

“If you do that on any team that’s a successful day,” Stamps linebacker Juwan Simpson said. “It’s hard to come back from that.

“If we knock the wind out of them early, that would be awesome. But something is telling me this is a four-quarter game.”